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World Conflicts Helped with Gender Equality
By Karolina Povedych, Florida
Assuming that the discussions amongst American students posing as global leaders participating in the Model UN program would be an apt simulation of the United Nations proceedings at their best, I remained undaunted when I saw that I was to compete against 12 males.
But when a few of them told me what to do, when to speak, when to be quiet - or even worse "to shut up" - and then did not take any of my solutions to the issues we were addressing into consideration even when the moderator openly acknowledged their depth and feasibility I realized that world peace was probably not going to be achieved at this mock UN forum.
"While male dominance is something we’ve come to learn exists in some places in the Middle East (and elsewhere) where women are treated often worse than cattle, I never believed that such blatant gender inequality could strike me here at home, in the United States." -Karolina Povedych
Frustrated and angry, I tried to understand what had provoked them. Soon enough the answer became crystal clear - I was a girl.
While male dominance is something we've come to learn exists in some places in the Middle East (and elsewhere) where women are treated often worse than cattle, I never believed that such blatant gender inequality could strike me here at home, in the United States. Although women have fought for equal opportunities numerous times throughout history, it is still a man's world and this ill-conceived idea is unfortunately still ingrained in our culture even amongst the youngest members of society.
Only now, in the 21st century, the world seems to be waking up to the fact that this is wrong. Indeed, combating gender inequality is the number three goal of the United Nations' eight Millennium Goals - a series of goals for improvement that the UN has pledged to fulfill by the year 2015.
In a way it's an irony that the UN (not the Model UN I participated in) has come to finally recognize the importance of women's contributions to society especially when it comes to family matters and their role in raising children. In a 2004 issue of Foreign Affairs, Isobel Coleman writes in The Payoff From Women's Rights, "[women] tend to invest more in their families than do men... that an increase in household incomes, for example, benefit a family more if the mother, rather than the father, controls the cash...women generally devote more of the household budget to education, health, and nutrition, and less to alcohol and cigarettes."
Further, by ensuring gender equality, the article went on to state, other problems, such as child malnutrition, access to education and the ability to eradicate various diseases can be helped.
But still these insights get ignored. While the UN has also established an international Commission on the Status of Women that monitors the treatment of women and devises solutions to some of the pressing conflicts women face, these well-intentioned efforts on the local, national and international levels are not sufficient and thus gender parity remains just a goal to strive for. Women in far too many places around the world are still denied even the most basic rights that all humans are entitled to. Shockingly, even women in developed nations face similar challenges to women in third world countries.
"Women in far too many places around the world are still denied even the most basic rights that all humans are entitled to.quot; -Karolina Povedych
It simply infuriates me that too many women are denied education because education is the tool people need to be empowered. When women are denied financial resources children suffer because most women use money towards nourishing and taking care of their children. And when women have neither education nor financial resources often they cannot prevent the youngest female members of society from being raped and forced to work under unimaginably gruesome conditions in order to survive. How could this happen in the 21st century.
What is it that hinders progress? Why, despite all the efforts, is it still a world dominated by males? The answer must lie in ignorance itself. It is misconceptions and misunderstandings about the role women play in societies that cause discrimination. Even today it's much too often assumed by both genders that a woman must come after a man, and that a woman can't produce the same quality of work that a man can, and therefore she should not receive the same salary - and that a man must be the head of the household or the preferred leader of a country.
Gender inequality is being addressed in some under-developed countries where micro-credit has enabled women to start micro enterprises. But much more needs to be done. Women must have access to education and financial resources.
In the West, gender equality is a discussion that yearns to be had. Policies must be established and enforced so that women have the same rights as men. We must change the mentality I encountered at Model UN so it can be a model for the rest of the world. We must make it well understood that both men and women are capable of producing the same quality of work and that they are rewarded for that work equally.
